Hornet Twin Envelope Airship

In exploring enemies for the players to fight in their newly found flying saucer my first step is to consider the mechanist version of a flying vehicle. I need something less large than the ealrier gyrocopter and the aerostat from machinery to the max which is a full zeppelin.

Being a fan of the Mortal Engines books, I like the idea of slightly up armoured and sturdy airships (the movie was pretty but deviated a lot from the books). Some of the movies concept art is awesome though and very evocative. This one is particularly inspiring.

Mortal Engines concept art by Ian McQue

The new vehicle below is intended to be a template I can work off to create various custom fits for air encounters. In also experimenting with a new vehicle stat block.

The Hornet Twin Envelope Airship

This twin rigid envelope design aerostat is built for the rough and tumble life of a trader. While drawing on less advanced materials compared to visitor vessel its reinforced hull makes it sturdy, though unable to haul the comparable loads. The design incorporates powered fan systems into the 20-foot-long airframe allowing for rapid speed and manoeuvrability. The main cabin is small and cramped with a bunk and head towards the back that is enough to provide comfort for one, but discomfort for its crew of four.

The lift is achieved through airbags utilising pure air sourced from alchemists through their arcane practices. This ingenious element making the design more compact than mere heated air that more common balloons can provide. Pure air cost 12gp per stone and contains six parts of the concoction. When exposed to the envelope gasses the vehicle can fly and consumes 9 parts per day of operation. Overall, the envelopes can hold 30 stone (180 parts) of pure air giving it a 20 day operation period.

In combat the pilot focuses on steering the vessel and the passengers can operate the three arbalest turrets placed around the vehicle. These turrets mount massive steel bolt ammunition that is effective even against the toughest alien vessels.

The design itself is common enough that parts, fuel and used vehicles can be found in many major towns. When purchased used they often come with custom modifications and a shrewd merchant can snap up a deal. They can be built by a 5th level machinist at a +6 build penalty taking 39 days at a base cost of 32,375 gp.

Hornet Twin Envelope Airship (Huge Machine)

Crew: Passengers: NPC Crew: Cargo: Consumables: Cost:	1 (pilot) 3 passengers (can perform crew or gunner actions) As 9HD (BAT 3+; BST 12+) 100 st. (includes 90 bolts, fuel, passengers and cabin) 9 parts of pure air per day, 180 envelope capacity 32,375 gp
Armor Class: Hit Points: Move: Weapons: Abilities:	7 54 (VHP) 240’ (80’) 3 Stabilised steel rod heavy arbalests (1d8 VHP, +1 to hit, range 120’) None

Build Notes

The mechanist build for this vehicle is as follows:

Utility Airship

Hit dice: 9 (36 VHP, save F5, structural vehicle)

Armor class: 7

Move: fly 240’ (80’)

Weight: 810 st. (5.7 tons)

Carry: 405 st. (3 seated passengers plus one passenger cabin for 260 st.; 30 st. fuel, 90 bolts for 15 st., 100 st. cargo)

Attacks: 3 Stabilised steel rod heavy arbalests (1d8 VHP damage, +1 to hit, range 120’)

Positive abilities (total): Automaton immunities *, increased AC +2 ##, Increased move (flight +180’) * ####, Movement mode (flight, full hover, replaces ground) ###, passengers (4) ###, protected compartment ####, Ranged attack (15' multiplier) ###, reinforce structure *. (***** ###)

Negative abilities (total): Requires operator (mechanist or learned) *, Requires ammunition (Steel arbalest bolts, 4 gp each, 6 per stone) ####, Other negative ability (Requires pure air to operate, 12 gp per day) ####, Restricted movement (uncontrollable in strong winds) ####. (** ####)

Cost (net abilities): 32,375 (** #### ###)

Design elements

I restricted the weight and carry capacity but was shooting for a reasonable amount of hit dice. It needed this to be able to go toe-to-toe with a visitor scout. 9HD gives me a good weight allowance with solid health.

I added a full passenger to this design at 200 stone to represent a small cabin. This would be shared by two people at a time leading to a lack of comfort. With a crew of four doing two shifts this vehicle can operate for a full day while two of the crew sleeps on the bunk.

Finally, it needs an operating cost. The flying saucers and other visitor vehicles are powered off crystals, so I want to enforce a cost to operate. Using the cost of a quarter charged crystal as 5gp you can operate a scout at 10 crystals a day giving a cost of 50gp. I think Terran vehicles will have a lower cost, maybe half that, so a much reduced cost of 20% seems appropriate (higher tech will still be much better). I wanted to use a fantastic source, not a mundane fuel. Like gunpowder not being officially called gunpowder in my setting. In the end I came up with Pure Air, sourced from the elemental planes and distilled in the laboratories of alchemists.

Edit: for reinforced vehicles I assume 6HP per HD.

The Tyrant Bird or "Quetzalcoatlus"

As per normal my players have found a flying vehicle and are using it to explore the worldship. This time is a small flying saucer “scout”, last time it was the gyrocopter (my second group are about to find a Visitor Trader and have expressed an interest in finding other worlds, more on that later). As such I need to work on both vehicle combat rules and encounters appropriate to exploring using a vehicle that flies.

So while I work on this I am identifying monsters that can damage vehicles to build the table as well as making a few new monsters. The first is the Quetzalcoatlus. I think this would be called a “Tyrant Bird” by the common folk of the worldship and I have detailed it below:

Dinosaur, Quetzalcoatlus AKA Tyrant Bird (Gigantic animal)

% In Lair: Dungeon Enc: Wilderness Enc: Treasure Type / XP:	None None Flight (1d4) None / 700
Hit Dice: Armor Class: Save: Special Def.:	9 4 F5 None
Movement: Attacks: Morale: Special Off.:	120’(40’) ground; 240' (80') flying Bite (3+, 2d12 [3 VHP, 2 THP]) +1 None

This gigantic pterosaur is the largest known flying animal to have ever lived. These gigantic winged reptiles had wingspans of up to 40 feet. At this size they could be compared to the size of modern aircraft and would have been a tyrant of the skies. To the inhabitants of the worldship this monster would be found in the arboretum jungles and the wider mainlines of their world, they are commonly referred to as the Tyrant Bird. They weigh around 440 pounds but can only carry around 10 stone due to their light bone structure. They would attack animals and large creatures for food and their territorial nature would lead them to attack other airborne creatures or even vehicles such as flying saucers.

Based on original image by Joschua Knüppe

Build notes:

Starting with the Pterosaurian BME 1.35–1.48 rates in L&E I calculated out the 9 HD to achieve the upper mass estimates of the base creature found online (there is a wide range of estimates out there). Coincidently this is another 4HD increase from the Pterandon at 5HD which is itself a 4HD increase on the Pterodactyl. The gigantic size is based off literal dimensions here not mass, similar to other pterosaur in the base book these are lighter mass creatures. In a way I was looking for a gigantic creature so it can damage structures and vehicles. The AC is increased by 1 for no benefit and the damage is above the recommended table but below the upper limit to ensure it can damage vehicles. I increased its moral by 1 given its size and to step each of the pterosaurs by one for each monster size.

The big question was - should it have dive attack? The actual flight and feeding habits of this creature are controversial given difficulty in estimating its mass. As a dominant beak attack I can’t imagine it doing a grab attack similar to a Hawk or Roc using Talons. As such I will just restrict it to standard beak attacks. It can still dive and attack with its beak, it just lacks the bonus damage. That said I have given it an already strong bite attack.